Shanghai police held Ola Wong of the Swedish daily Sydsvenska Dagbladet and a Canadian freelance photographer for one hour while they were covering protestors in Shanghai’s People’s Square who oppose plans for a magnetic-levitation train project.
Hundreds of Shanghai residents turned out to demonstrate against a plan to extend the existing maglev train line to the city center over concerns that it would emit electromagnetic radiation and pose a health hazard. Wong said police took the journalists away from the reporting scene to a nearby police station, allegedly for doing ‘illegal reporting.’
“Their pretext was that I didn’t bring my passport with me. We were released after one hour. The photographer got a shove in the back from one police officer but other than that they behaved OK.”